PRINCETON COUNCIL CANDIDATE
By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
One of the reasons Jo S. Butler got into government was because her taxes doubled in 10 years.
”I’m one of those people. The property taxes will drive us out,” said Ms. Butler, a borough councilwoman who is running for council of the consolidated Princeton.
Ms. Butler, a Democrat, has been in local government for the past two years. She is part of a slate with five other council candidates running in the election to serve on the council for the merged town.
Asked about the “town-gown” relationship with Princeton University, she said she was “perplexed that the university is beating this drum” that things are bad between the school and the borough. “We’re going to have interests that don’t line up all the time,” she said.
She also expressed the need to clean up the downtown. She said if merchants are going to have outdoor seating, they have a responsibility to “tidy up,” in her words.
”I just don’t think the central business district looks as good as it could,” she said. “I think we need to maybe have a fresh look at some design standards so when there is development going on Witherspoon and on Nassau Street, we can ask people to meet certain standards.”
Asked if having a special improvement district would do the trick, she said she did not know. She expressed surprise that merchants don’t do more to keep the downtown clean.
Ms. Butler has served on the transition task force for the consolidation of the two towns, something she is optimistic about. “I think that we’re going to have a lot to do. We’re going to have a lot of nuts and bolts,” she said.
She said two-thirds of the projected savings from the merger will come through the police department, although she does not believe that police officers will be laid off.
”Even if we don’t reduce the overall number of police, I think we’ll be able to reduce the police salary budget,” she said.
”Safety is a funny thing. It’s a lot harder to get back if you lose it, and it will cost us a lot more.”
Ms. Butler, 59, grew up in Fort Wayne, Ind. She recalled how her father, a staunch Republican, refused to let her boyfriend park in their driveway because he had a McGovern sticker on his car.
She earned her bachelor’s degree at Indiana University, later earning a master’s at Northwestern University. She is employed as a senior search consultant with Wickenden Associates.
She was elected to Borough Council in 2010. In that time, she has felt her way around.
”It takes you a year to get your bearings and you start to know where the bodies are buried and how things work and get a handle on things. It takes a while before you can really be effective,” she said.

